GOLF
Woods revels in wet
Tiger Woods enjoyed himself in almost serene conditions, carding a second straight six-under-par 64 to grab a two-shot second-round lead over Jeff Woodland at the Zozo Championship yesterday. On a day when spectators were not allowed on the premises due to what the PGA Tour said were unsafe conditions, Woods quietly went about his business in front in near-silence at the Narashino County Club in Chiba, Japan. Woodland shot 66 to stake out second place at 10-under, while Keegan Bradley and local favorite Hideki Matsuyama were two shots further back in a tie for third. The course dried remarkably well after being deluged with 150mm of rain on Friday. Taiwan’s C.T. Pan was in a share of 62nd after a second-round 75.
GOLF
South Koreans dominate
Lee Somi and Lee Seung-yeon had a share of the lead at the LPGA BMW Ladies Championship at home in South Korea yesterday. Lee Somi shot a 67 and Lee Seung-yeon 68 as they reached 13-under after the third round in Busan. Six other South Koreans were in the top 10, while Taiwan’s Hsu Wei-ling shot a 69 for a share of 72nd.
HORSE RACING
Fifth death at Santa Anita
A fifth horse has died at Santa Anita this fall, the 35th overall fatality since Dec. 26 last year at the Southern California racetrack. G Q Covergirl injured both her front legs on Friday on the training track. The five-year-old mare was euthanized on the advice of the attending veterinarian. Trained by two-time Kentucky Derby winner Doug O’Neill, G Q Covergirl had six wins in 16 career starts and earnings of US$200,730. The training track has caused the fewest number of breakdowns. However, there have been three deaths on it since the fall meet began on Sept. 27, including one that was believed to be a heart attack. The other two fatalities occurred during races.
SOCCER
Ekambi scores brace
Karl Toko Ekambi scored a goal in each half on Friday as Villarreal beat Deportivo Alaves 4-1 to move closer to the top of La Liga. Ekambi opened the scoring with a shot from inside the area after a fast counterattack in the 13th minute. He added his second with a touch from close range in the 65th after Lucas Perez had equalized for the visitors with a neat bicycle-kick in the 50th. Gerard Moreno scored the third after another fast break in the 84th, and substitute Javier Ontiveros closed the scoring from a free-kick
SOCCER
Mainz defeat Cologne
FSV Mainz 05 beat Cologne 3-1 at home in the Bundesliga on Friday after the visitors were denied what looked a clear penalty. Cologne were trailing 2-1 and chasing an equalizer when Mainz defender Moussa Niakhate blocked Kingsley Schindler’s cross with his outstretched arm in the 63rd minute. Referee Frank Willenborg was advised to check on video replays, but did not award a spot-kick.
SOCCER
Sassuolo edge Verona 1-0
US Sassuolo beat Hellas Verona 1-0 on Friday in a matchup between two teams in the bottom half of the Serie A standings. Filip Duricic scored shortly after the break with a blistering long-range effort. Sassuolo moved up to 13th place, level on points with 15th-place Verona. Verona hit the post twice, first through Davide Faraoni a minute before Duricic’s goal and again two minutes after Duricic’s score by Valerio Verre.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier